We offer two types of balloon stick here at Signature Balloons; 1-piece safety sticks and a 2-piece version. 2-piece safety sticks consist of a cup and a stick element which need to be fitted together before tying the balloon on whilst, as the name suggests, the 1-piece sticks are a single moulded piece of plastic. The 2-piece sticks are the cheaper option but if you intend to give them to children, we recommend using the 1-piece sticks as there are no small or detachable parts.
Now, I realised the other day that prior to working here I wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea how to attach a balloon to a balloon stick, so now having acquired this knowledge, I feel compelled to share it! So here goes...
- Inflate your latex balloons with air using a pump. See our blog post on balloon pumps to see which is best for you. There's also a video on the home page of website showing you how to inflate balloons with a pump which may help you here!
- Tie a knot in the balloon. To do this stretch the neck of the balloon as much as possible (don’t be afraid) and make a loop to poke the end of the balloon through (Fig 1.). The bigger the loop, the easier it’ll be.
Fig 1.
- Now you are ready to attach the balloon to the stick. As you can see in Fig.2, the stick has two holes and two slits opposite each other. Sit the balloon in the cup part of the balloon stick and pull the neck of the balloon through one of the holes (Fig 3.). Twist it around to the slit on the opposite side and stretch the neck of the balloon through the slit from the outside into the centre of the cup (Fig 4.). Finally, pull any remaining neck of the balloon through the hole you haven’t used yet (Fig 5.) and if there’s enough neck left, stretch it around the outside of the cup to the slit you haven’t used and slot it in to leave the thick edge of the neck inside the cup area for a neat finish.
Fig 2.
Fig 3.
Fig 4.
Fig 5.
- Your balloon should now be sitting securely in the stick (Fig 6.) and ready to hand out during a promotion!
Fig 6.
Using balloon sticks can be a much more cost effective way to include balloons in your promotion as it means you can inflate them with air, thus eliminating the need for helium which is usually the most expensive part of the balloon buying process!
Balloons filled with air can also be inflated ahead of the promotion and displayed in a balloon tree or vases/vessels filled with sand/pebbles/oasis, etc., to save you time on the day. Although we find tying knots best, if you have loads of balloons to inflate and attach and are pushed for time, you could skip the knot tying step. Instead, simply twist the neck of the balloon and follow the steps to pull it through the holes and slits to attach it to the stick.
So there you have it, a quick guide on attaching balloons to balloon sticks.
Mark, Balloonologist.